In water clarification programs there is often a need for the action of both a coagulant and a flocculant. For instance, in many oil field water clarification programs a coagulant of the metal salt type is used to coagulate the oil and solids of the water to be clarified and a flocculant of the anionic polymer type is used to flocculate the particles into large masses or aggregates.
Dual treatments inherently present greater handling problems than a single treatment program. When two compositions are being introduced at any treatment facility, generally the equipment and installations required, such as chemical pumps and injection points, are double that required for a single composition treatment.
Alkali metal aluminates, such as sodium aluminate, are well known as active in clarifying waste waters. Sodium aluminate is often used in conjunction with anionic polymers to provide a dual treatment comprising both a coagulant and flocculant. In the past blending such compositions before introduction into the waste water was not possible due to the cationic/anionic interaction between the sodium aluminate and anionic polymers whereby the activities of the components were diminished or destroyed. Thus such compositions are introduced into waters to be clarified separately, requiring extra feed equipment, tankage, injection points, and more servicing than would be required with a single composition treatment.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a water clarification process wherein both a metal salt type coagulant and an anionic polymer flocculant are introduced to the water being treated as a single composition while the integrities of the components are substantially retained. It is an object of the present invention to provide a water clarification composition comprising both a coagulant and a flocculant, each substantially in an active state and substantially available for independent coagulation and flocculation activity upon introduction into the water to be treated. It is an object of the present invention to provide a method of preparing a composition comprising an active coagulant and active flocculant in combination in aqueous solution. These and other objects are discussed in more detail below.